Version: 1.0.0 | Published: 23 Aug 2026 | Updated: 0 days ago
Summary
Documentation
Associated Media:
Description:
The Community Services Data Set (CSDS) is the national patient level dataset covering all NHS funded community health services in London. It captures person centred information about children and adults receiving care outside hospital settings (such as in homes, schools, clinics, and community centres) and is designed for secondary uses like research, commissioning, and service improvement.
CSDS is the core dataset for understanding how community health services operate: essential for improving access, equity, and outcomes outside hospital settings.
The data set includes:
1. Patient demographics and circumstances such as Personal details (age, sex, ethnicity), Social and personal circumstances, Disability and long term conditions, Risk indicators.
2. Clinical information such as Diagnoses, including long term conditions and disabilities, Scored assessments (e.g., developmental, functional, risk), Breastfeeding and nutrition data, Weight management service activity.
3. Community care activity including Care contacts and events, Screening activity, Referral source, Consultation mechanism (e.g., face to face, remote) .
4. Service coverage including all publicly funded community health services delivered by: NHS providers / Independent sector providers delivering NHS funded care / Acute providers delivering community services.
5. Operational and commissioning data including Resource use, Service/team type, Data supporting new payment approaches, Reference cost improvement.
It excludes Non NHS funded community care.
Researchers find CSDS relevant with regards to:
1. Understanding community health needs by using detailed information on Long term conditions, Disabilities, Developmental and functional assessments. This helps identify population needs and tailor community interventions.
2. Evaluating service delivery and access by analysing Where care is delivered (home, school, clinic, mobile unit), Referral patterns, Contact frequency and modality, Variation between providers.
3. Addressing health inequalities by using CSDS to monitor National outcome indicators, Analysis of demographic variation in service use, Identification of underserved groups.
4. Improving operational efficiency such as Resource use information, Data for intelligent commissioning, Insight into service demand and capacity.
5. Supporting policy and payment reform, CSDS underpins New community service currencies, Consistent national costing, Development of future community service models.
Using CSDS, researchers can:
- Improve early intervention by analysing developmental and risk assessments
- Strengthen community pathways through understanding referral and contact patterns
- Reduce inequalities by identifying demographic gaps in service access
- Enhance resource planning with detailed activity and cost related data
- Support personalised care through rich person centred information.
In Pipeline:
Available
Coverage
Spatial:
- United Kingdom
- England
- London
Typical Age Range Min:
0
Typical Age Range Max:
150
Material Type:
None/not available
Follow Up:
1 - 10 Years
Pathway:
This dataset contains all Community Services for London patients. Each patient
will be identified using an unique patient key, this can be used to link to
other London SDE datasets that will help track the patient pathway.
Provenance
Origin
Purpose:
- Administrative
- Care
- Other
Dataset Type:
- Health and disease
- Treatments/Interventions
Dataset Sub-Type:
- Others
- Others
Source:
EPR
Collection Source:
Community
Image Contrast:
No
Temporal
Publishing Frequency:
Monthly
Distribution Release Date:
01 September 2026
Start Date:
01 April 2018
Time Lag:
1-2 weeks
Accessibility
Access
Access Rights:
London Secure Data Environment Enquiry Form
Access Service Category:
TRE/SDE
Access Service:
Researchers will have access to a secure workspace via an airlocked Azure
Virtual Desktop with a specific username and password, MFA (multi-factor
authentication) and OAUTH (open authentication). Researchers will get specific
access to a relevant subset of the datasets that are present in the SDE
catalogue for their project and will be able to carry out their research within
the safe haven. There are restrictions applied which prevent the researchers
from taking data out of the safe haven. Once the research is completed the
London SDE admin team will need to be contacted for any requests to egress
summary analysis out of the safe haven which will not breach secure data
environment disclosure control standards.
Access Request Cost:
Access costs will be determined on a project-by-project basis and will depend on
the specific data requirements, platform setup, and any additional services
needed to deliver the project successfully.
Delivery Lead Time:
1-2 months
Data Controller:
Participating London health care organisations act as Joint Data Controllers
within the London SDE. These organisations include for example GP Practices and
Acute Providers from across London.
Data Processor:
The data processor for the London Secure Data Environment (SDE) is primarily
managed by OneLondon, a partnership of London's five integrated care systems
(ICSs) and three health innovation networks. NHS North East London ICB hosts
OneLondon and operates the London Data Service (LDS) as a data processor on
behalf of those organisations, whilst Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
hosts the London Analytics Platform (LAP), with Imperial NHS Trust acting as the
data processor for data processing activities undertaken within the platform.
Jurisdiction:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Usage
Data Use Limitation:
No restriction
Data Use Requirements:
- Collaboration required
- Institution-specific restrictions
- Project-specific restrictions
- Time limit on use
- User-specific restriction
Resource Creator:
London SDE
Format and Standards
Vocabulary Encoding Scheme:
- NHS NATIONAL CODES
- LOCAL
- OPCS4
- ICD10
- SNOMED CT
Conforms To:
- NHS DATA DICTIONARY
- LOCAL
Language:
English
Format:
Text
Enrichment and Linkage
Investigations:
Linkable Datasets
PID
Title
URL
Each patient will be identified by an unique patient key that can be used to link to all other datasets available within London SDE Platform
Observations
Statistical Population
Population Description
Population Size
Measured Property
Observation Date
Events
113879308
Count
23 September 2026
Persons
Distinct Patient Count
8908658
Count
23 September 2026
Origin
Name:
NWL Data Catalogue